No Need for a First Name
by ChelberNo.1
Summary: "At least I appreciate her, At least I'd never break her heart." In Last Stand of Dead Men, at the battle of the Keep did anybody even notice Threatening's death? he sacrificed himself to save Valkyrie. I felt really sorry for the guy, so I wrote this in his honor. Rated T for character death and war fighting stuff.


**A/N: I was reading Last Stand of Dead Men again, near the start, where Fletcher was sitting outside of Madame Mist's office, waiting for orders, and Threatening came up and started accusing Fletcher of cheating on Valkyrie. Threatening was saying that he would be better for her, and that Fletcher deserved to get dumped.**

**When I first read that, I instantly disliked Threatening, but then sorta forgot about him; more important things were happening in the book. But then I read the battle scene in Chapter 50 (The Battle at the Keep) and Threatening possibly saved Valkyrie's life, and I just realised that it was the same person talking to Fletcher. Threatening died a couple of sentences later, and in only a few words. I quote:**

"_**The bullets hit the armour, didn't slow him down, and Threatening dropped the gun and went for his sword and the man stuck a blade in Threatening's throat and left him to die."**_

**And that's it. Valkyrie doesn't acknowledge him or show any emotion, and turns and starts fighting again. Yeah, I know that she was overwhelmed, but I felt really sorry for him. Minor characters hardly get much understanding or recognition. And while Threatening seemed like a jerk, we didn't really know his background or history, or his real reason for going off at Fletcher. He didn't really get a chance. And he saved Valkyrie and put himself in a deadly situation – which turned out to be deadly – just because he had a massive crush on Valkyrie. Then died a death that no-one will remember, at the age of 20. **

**Now feeling really sad and, for some reason, guilty, I decide to honour him by writing about his last few moments. Enjoy. **

***Raises cup* Here's to Threatening, the boy with no need for a first name.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Skulduggery Pleasant. All quotes on this page are from **_**Skulduggery Pleasant: Last Stand of Dead Men **_**by Derek Landy. **

* * *

"_At least I appreciate her. At least I'd never break her heart."_

– Threatening,_ Last Stand of Dead Men _by Derek Landy

* * *

Threatening stepped forward and rammed the butt of his gun into an elemental's throat, then twisted as a sword tried to open up his side.

This wasn't going to work. He needed more room to move. There were sorcerers and mages all around him, sweating and cursing, fighting and shooting. There were guns, swords, there were even a few bow-and-arrows and axes that were being wielded. All trying to protect their backs – which was proving near impossible. It was way too crowded. Threatening needed to step back soon, otherwise-

Suddenly, the pressure on his back was lessened, and he was able to plant a foot behind him and throw a decent, solid punch, dropping the mage in front of him, her nose gushing blood.

He turned, flipping an energy-thrower over his hip as he went, trying to figure out what happened. Half of their army had turned, and was fighting the wrong way. In the confusion and the battle, he didn't understand right away.

_Idiots! _he wanted to scream. _The enemy is this way! _What were they doing? They were abandoning them?! The cowards! Those-

Oh, hell.

Hundreds of Mantis's soldiers had sneaked up on them, and were attacking them from behind.

They were out-numbered. By a _lot. _They were being flogged. Smashed. Crushed. They were losing.

Where were those bloody vampires?

Suddenly, he heard a scream, a scream of horror, exhilaration, and pure fury all rolled into one. A war cry. Threatening turned and saw the most beautiful sight in the blood splattered battle field.

Valkyrie Cain.

He watched as she launched from the sky into the battle, and took down several mages twice her size without blinking, and launched herself into mid-battle.

An eighteen year old girl fighting for freedom. Fighting against people many years older and more experienced than her. Threatening admired that. She was strong. She was tough, and she was determined.

She was perfect.

_Wait . . . no! Where'd she go? _Threatening couldn't see her through the sea of bodies. He had to get to her, he had to help her. Because she would need his help.

He pushed his way through bodies, not knowing if they were friend or foe, dodging attacks as they came. Finally, he pushed a red-haired elemental out of his way, and suddenly there she was. Valkyrie. She was fighting, attacking and defending, struggling to take everything in her stride, trying not to slip.

Fighting, with her back turned to the energy thrower with his hand aimed at her head, electricity crackling in his palm.

Threatening didn't bother shouting, he didn't bother with warnings or screaming. He just _ran. _

He crashed into Valkyrie, knocking her sideways and the breath out of him, her dark hair flying in his face. They both slammed into the muddy ground, and the energy stream flying over their heads, missing them by centimetres.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Valkyrie look at him, but he was already getting to his feet. Time for talking would come later. Now, he needed to protect her, and get them both out of here alive.

A man ran at him, and Threatening raised his gun, fumbling a little, and shoot him in the chest. But, instead of wounding him, the bullets bounced off the armour he was wearing. The man was still charging forward, slipping a blade from his sleeve, and Threatening tried in vain to grab his sword and block, but the man was too fast.

Threatening could do nothing as the blade was jammed into his throat.

He tried to gasp, but gagged instead, the metallic taste of blood strong in his mouth. All of his strength suddenly left him, and he fell, the pain making his eyes water, his sight blurring.

_No. I'm not meant to die like this. This isn't right. _

He hit the ground and coughed, blood dripping down his chin. He tried to stand, to get his legs underneath him again, but his body wouldn't respond. He could just make out Valkyrie slam a fistful of shadows into the man who stabbed him, throwing him away.

_Valkyrie, help me. Please, help me, _He tried to call, but he couldn't move.

She looked at him for less than a second, then turned and flung herself into battle once more, leaving him alone. Alone to die on a battlefield.

Threatening's mind was going blank, and for that he was glad. He didn't really want to process what just happened. He just watched as Valkyrie Cain disappeared from sight.

She didn't even know the first name of the boy who saved her life. Nobody really knew his first name. Only his last.

_Come back! I don't want to die yet. I want to live. Grow old with somebody. There are so many things I want to do. I've barely lived._

_At least don't let me die here. Not in the mud. _

Nothing. Nobody came, nobody helped. Nobody noticed or cared. Not even Valkyrie, saviour of the world, had tried to help him. They all continue to fight, fighting in a war for control.

Something connected with the back of Threatening's head, and everything faded to black.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry if that last bit was a bit ragged. I don't really know how to write death scenes. I read the scene over and over again, so I'm pretty sure I got the order of events right, but I'm sorry if anything is out of place.**

**Minor characters hardly get recognised or appreciated. Like, look at this passage – **

"_**When you had a last name like Threatening, first names became somewhat unimportant."**_

**I mean, I got what Derek Landy was trying to say – Threatening was a pretty hard core bloke – but if he wasn't as much of a minor character, we would probably know his first name. But, for Threatening, not knowing his first name was more of a compliment . . . But when he died, you could tell that he wasn't as appreciated. It took me a couple of goes of reading the book for that to finally click. And he was only 20 years old. And if the Tesseract can have a decent death scene, so can Threatening. **

**So, just putting this out there, I'm not going off at Derek Landy – He's a brilliant author and his books are awesome (officially my favourite book series, and I read **_**a lot)**_** – but making sure that Threatening's sacrifice didn't go unnoticed. (Sorry in advance for any characters I ignore in my stories!)**


End file.
